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YOUR WEDDING INVITATION IS THE WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO SET THE TONE FOR YOUR CELEBRATION - ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED ABROAD.

Your card is your guests first peek at your wedding style and creates anticipation for your event. If you want guests to excited about your wedding and eager to attend, put some thought and energy in your invitations.

Here are 9 tips to create a great first impression with your wedding invitations.

1. START EARLY

Timing is critical - especially for destination weddings when guests need plenty of time to plan and book the trip.

As destination wedding planners in Malta, we are accustomed to having clients whose guests need extra notice to fully prepare for a wedding far from home. For this reason, we usually recommend sending out the “save the date” cards six to eight months before your celebration day and possibly even earlier.

This stationery process will take longer than you will imagine in the beginning. You’ll need to factor in searching for inspiration and materials, editing, and postage, and most of the time you’re dependent on designers, editors, printers and the post offices.

Order your invitations four to five months before your wedding, so you’re sure that you can send them six to eight weeks before the wedding.

2. GET INSPIRED

The web offers a lot of amazing inspiration to create an invitation card.

To discover what your style is, start searching for different kinds of wedding invitations, photos, and stationers’ websites. Look for various styles, colors, sizes, and fonts that catch your eye, so you can create an idea of what you like.

3. DEFINE YOUR WEDDING STYLE

After all this inspiration you have gained, you should have an idea of the type of event you’re throwing.

At this moment you’re ready to choose your wedding look and feel. Are you going for this kind of elegant and classic wedding or are you more of a Boho, go with the flow kind of girl?

You can also consider the location of your wedding to create your theme. If you're planning a beach wedding, you might opt for simpler, romantic invites. If you're celebrating at an urban, industrial warehouse, then bold, modern design might suit you. If you're getting wed in a rustic villa, then an old world font and style may be in order.

Your wedding style can reflect a combination of themes and aesthetics, so let your creativity run free . The styles you choose can help you select all the other elements of your stationery – fonts, colors, illustrations, paper products and words.

4. CHOOSE YOUR COLORS

With your style selected, it's time to settle on a color scheme.

You want to incorporate this scheme into your wedding invitations and also continue using them in the rest of your stationery and on your big day.

Search for colors that match your personality and wedding theme. Go for invites with colorful or metallic aspects when you’re an outgoing person. Use creamy cotton cardstock with gold lettering to create the more traditional classic invitations.

5. WRITE YOUR INVITATIONS

Don’t crowd the cards with text; only list the points that are really necessary.

What can’t be missed? The couple’s names, the date, host’s names, ceremony time and location, the dress code and RSVP information are most important.

Keep in mind to make clear if they can bring ‘a plus one’ or if children are allowed to come.

Don’t overdo it. Use other inserts in your invitation kit to explain the directions to your wedding, for example.

6. KEEP IT SIMPLE

Less is more, definitely with invitation cards! As we said, use a color scheme to balance the use of colors, keep the motifs, logo and wording simple, and stick to one or two fonts.

7. CONSIDER COSTS

You have a budget and you want to stick to that. Your largest expense will likely be the wedding venue and catering, with various suppliers following that. So make sure you factor in your must-have wedding services before stretching your budget when it comes to the invitation cards.

These cards can become unnecessarily expensive if you aren't careful. It is really important that you compare the prices of several vendors to ensure you’re receiving reasonable deals.

You can save on some aspects like postage and printing by directing your guests to a personalized wedding website or save on formal printing techniques like letterpress and engraving.

8. COMPLETE YOUR WEDDING SUITE

One of the parts of your stationary is the invitation card. But don’t forget about the save the date cards, RSVP cards + envelope, thank you cards, place cards for the reception, wedding programs and menu cards. For the best result, use the same theme for the entire wedding suite of papers.

9. CHECK, CHECK, DOUBLE CHECK!

Ask for a sample of the invitation from your stationer. You can see the quality of the cards before placing your order. Also triple-check the proof on grammar and details like date and time. Don’t do it yourself - ask your super smart bridesmaids, groomsmen or all-knowing mom to read it over and over again.

Use your inspiration and creativity to design and blow everyone away with your first impression of the wedding day. Keep these important elements in mind and have fun designing the perfect wedding invitation.